Regional Recommendations And Toolkit For Green
Building Programs In The Denver Metropolitan Area
Colorado is a home-rule state in which local
jurisdictions adopt building codes at the jurisdictional
level to suit the needs of their community. Over the
past twenty years Colorado has seen an increase in the
number of communities adopting green building programs
and codes, which has resulted in a patchwork of building
and energy codes across the state.
This concern was addressed in 2008 when the Southwest
Energy Efficiency Project and Greenprint Denver convened
meetings with building code officials to discuss the
possibility of developing a green building code for the
Front Range of Colorado. Since the first meetings were
held in 2008, new products have become available,
including the National Green Building Standard (NGBS),
International Green Construction Code (IGCC) and
Standard 189.1. The project was repurposed in 2010 when
a group of building industry stakeholders participated
in a six-month process to reach agreement on a
nationally developed code or standard that could be used
as the foundation for green building programs in Denver
Metro.
The intent of the toolkit is to assist the building
code official by providing a product to present to their
council or commissioners outlining the incremental steps
the jurisdiction can take to ultimately adopt a green
building program. The building official can use
the toolkit to adopt a regionally-consistent program,
and to use as a reference the implementation strategies
and educational resources. Jurisdictions that already
have a green building program can use this toolkit to
adopt the codes and standards that are recommended by
the stakeholder group, thereby promoting consistency
throughout the region.
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